STATUE OF THATCHER AN INSULT
Labour lashes £300k plans
A STATUE of Margaret Thatcher in Parliament Square would be an insult to communities destroyed under her leadership, Labour said yesterday.
Plans for a memorial to the divisive Tory former Prime Minister to stand alongside those of Winston Churchill and Nelson Mandela have been axed amid fears it would be vandalised.
Theresa May pushed for a re-think yesterday, saying: “There should be no suggestion the threat of vandalism should stop a statue of Margaret Thatcher from being put up.”
But Labour Party chairman and former miners’ union leader Ian Lavery said it would be “wholly inappropriate” to go ahead with the statue, said to cost £300,000. He said: “It would be seen as an insult to those whose communities and livelihoods were destroyed under her premiership. Workingclass people would not stand for a Tory shrine in the heart of our capital city.” Despite Mrs May’s plea from the G20 summit in Hamburg yesterday, No10 said a decision on the statue was for Tory Westminster Council, not the Government.